The Road Back to Running: Injury Recovery and Finding Joy Again
Hi everyone,
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and share a little about why I started this blog. My name is Janey, and I’m a Colorado native. I absolutely love everything about this state—hiking, biking, camping (hello s’mores!), and spending time with friends. Being outdoors has always been a huge part of who I am. I’ve also been involved in competitive sports since I was six years old. Over the years, I’ve played basketball, volleyball, soccer, and swam competitively. Swimming was my main sport through high school, but I also started running in middle school. At first, I hated running. It felt like punishment—something you had to do, not something you wanted to do. But over time, that mindset shifted, and I slowly began to fall in love with it. In high school, I reached a turning point. My competitive swim practices conflicted with cross country, and I had to make a choice. I decided to step away from competitive swim and fully commit to running cross country and track. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made, I loved it. After graduating, I planned to walk on to my college’s cross country and track team. I expected the jump in intensity and commitment, but I wasn’t prepared for the mental and emotional toll that experience would take. Unfortunately, the coaching environment wasn’t healthy, and it deeply impacted my relationship with running. I made the decision to leave the team after my freshman year and continued running unattached during the rest of college. It took time, more than I expected, to rebuild my love for running. But by the time I graduated, I had found it again. That summer, I moved back home and joined a master’s team, which was such a positive experience. Not long after, I moved to Colorado Springs and continued training on my own. Around that time, I discovered trail running—and completely fell in love with it. There’s something about being on the trails that just feels different. It brought a new kind of joy and freedom to running for me.
Since then, my journey hasn’t been perfectly smooth. I’ve worked with a few different coaches and have dealt with recurring injuries—some of which have sidelined me for long periods of time. Right now, I’m coming back from an injury that has lasted about 10 months. Just as I was starting to return to running, I began feeling pain in my other leg. The good news is I caught it early. I’m hopeful that this is just a result of overuse or compensation from the previous injury, and that with a week or two of rest, I’ll be able to get back into my return-to-run plan. In the meantime, I’m staying active in ways that don’t aggravate it—walking, biking, and focusing on strength work. I’m doing everything I can to support healing and come back stronger.
I’m currently signed up for the Pikes Peak Ascent, and I’m really hoping I’ll still be able to train and race it. Time will tell, but I’m staying hopeful. I created this space to document my running journey, especially the reality of coming back from injury. The highs, the setbacks, the mental battles, and the small wins along the way. Running isn’t always a straight path, and I know I’m not the only one navigating these challenges. If you’re on a similar journey, I hope this space reminds you that you’re not alone, and that joy in running is still possible, even in the hard seasons.
Running for Joy isn’t about perfect training cycles or nonstop progress. It’s about finding purpose, healing, and happiness through movement, wherever you are in your journey.
If this resonates with you, I’d love for you to follow along, share your story, and be part of this community. Whether you’re coming back from injury, just getting started, or chasing big goals, there’s space for you here.
Let’s keep choosing joy, one step at a time 💛
Janey
